Proverbs 11:12 Golden Silence Secrets
One who despises his neighbor lacks sense, but a person of understanding keeps silent.
Between 2004 to 2005, I lived in a small mobile home park or neighborhood close to the Kings Mountain Battleground National Park. It was a nice place and pretty reasonable, and I found out the park owners were best friends who were Christians. When I made my down payment for rent, one owner was helping me unpack; she saw I had many Christian artists and asked, are you a Christian? I said yes, she said, nice, maybe you witness your neighbors. I am old fashion; I like to learn who my neighbors are, so I walked around to know who was who. Even if I am a Christian, I don’t stereotype people. My parents taught me to treat everyone with respect and not mistreat a black or white person. In my new mobile home park, I knew that my neighbors beside me were a lesbian couple, and one had a daughter they were raising together. The sabbath was the next day, and I needed a ride to church, so I went and asked the lesbians couple, and one of them, say sure, I will take you, don’t mind at all. So the following day, she took me; we talk about church and Jesus on the way; she drops me off, and I thank her. I was in a young family with three boys a lot. The boys would ask me to play a video game with them, and they would say, Mr. Sam, you are very good at video games. The kids from the other family would hang out as well. Once I had the whole mobile home park of kids at my place, we played board games, and they left. A few days later, the mother of three boys told me that the girl with the bunch of kids told her something had happened and accused me of something. The woman tells me; I know you are Christian; you play your Christian music loud. That young girl is a troublemaker, and the other kids, you were only playing games and had some popcorn. Few of the neighbors at the mobile park believe the girl cause she had told everyone. One day I was outside, and the girl who spread false rumors about me fought with the girl who had a lesbian mother. As they were arguing with each other, one said, “Oh, you have two mommies!,” the other girl replied, “At least, I am not a lair! “The family with a young girl who was a troublemaker was told to move away by the owners of the park cause she has a reputation, had ruined, her entire household. The Holy Bible has taught me lots of things; most people are good. Jesus even said, in the gospel, even if a father is evil, he knows how to give good things to his children.
Loving our neighbors means loving them honestly and with respect, the ninth commandment of God’s holy laws, say do not bear false witness against your neighbor, (Exodus 20:16) Which means lay about anyone’s character or reputation. Proverbs 11:12 says if you know a neighbor’s secret, please don’t be vindictive. That is hypocrisy, which is love for self, not for God or for your neighbors. The old quote, “If you have nothing nice to say, just say nothing at all,” is a wise saying. Neighbor gossip isn’t very pleasant to hear and it shouldn’t be something a child of God does. God bless you all, the Lord Jesus loves you and so do I. Samuel J H.
